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For Fun: Backbuilding Radar Animations

StephenHenry

StephenHenry

EF3
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
211
Location
Albuquerque, NM
I really enjoy looking at radar animations (it's basically the way I got my chase fix for years), and in particular, I think backbuilding storms are really interesting. There's usually a very neat mix of boundaries and storm development that are just fun to see in action. I've seen it described here once as "unzipping" along a boundary, which is a very satisfying way to put it. Anyway, here are some of my favorite examples. (Click on the headings for full animations, didn't want to kill this page's load time).

Jarrell, TX: May 27, 1997
FQN5ihi.png

No collection would be complete without this one - basically the king of all backbuilders. Still don't think I've ever seen anything like this anywhere else.

Pretty Prairie, KS: April 11, 2002
zCI7Zir.png

A couple backbuilders here. The one west of Wichita near Pretty Prairie put down some tornadoes. A nice westward-bulging outflow boundary helps unzip the line.

Cunningham, KS: July 9, 2003
d3XwUpE.png

Dat wrap-around though.
 
Wellington, KS: August 27, 2004
ob6VPLB.png

Gotta love that point of 3 intersecting boundaries. Yet again, the west-moving boundary seems to do the unzipping.

Rago, KS: May 19, 2012
TTNnZsa.png

Probably the 2nd most well-known example here, after Jarrell. In this case, the individual cells are much more distinguishable as they move northeast, and you can definitely see the little short-lived spin-ups in the radar signatures. But again it was that SW-moving boundary that initiated cells down the line.

Anderson, SC: June 15, 2010
bnEq6Or.png

Though a non-tornadic example, this one is one of my favorites because I experienced it first-hand. A boundary-intersection lover's dream come true. I was just a couple miles west of the core as is backbuilt south. The amount of wind stirred up by this storm, even 30 minutes after it's passing, still amazes me.
 
Chased some back building in NE Iowa years back. Unfortunately can't remember date. Chased it throughout the night. Bad flooding along the Mississippi river. 2009 or 10 maybe. Going to hunt for the date. Thanks for sharing animations
 
Oh man, what'd I'd do for a Level-II loop of Plainfield. This is the only graphic I've ever seen of the supercell evolution (pdf source).
nF5Q3bx.png

I have a hard time getting a feel for that one with such coarse time steps and low resolution.
 
Ha, that's funny. And my gif was put to shame. relearned how to make a gif in PS 6 though.. That's a plus. Now to find velocity. Unless you can. Curious cause I was under that mess. At one point it was a rain free base and I was under it. Knew I was in a bad spot. Luckily nothing happened.
 
That verifies. Was on 61 when we saw the most rotation and lowering. Ran into bad road network between 61 and 52. Went North to 52 exit. Back South to catch a glimpse. Just ran curtains and flooding by then.

Thanks for posting :) Brings it all back haha.
 
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